Improvement in fruning-knife



tnited mes N MANASSEH GROVR, OF GLYDE, OHIO.

Letters .PatentNo.103,873, datellune 7,1370.

. IMPROVEMENT IN ranma*cammen.4

The Schedule referred to in those Letters Patent and making pari of thesame.

To yall whom it may concern Be it known that I, MANAssEH GRovEn, of Clyde, in the county of Sandusky and State of Ohio, have invented a new and improved Pair of Pruning-Shears gand I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being lhad to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, `in which- Figure l is a side view of the improved shears, open.

Figure 2 is a similar view of the shears shut.

Figure 3 shows the slotted cutting-blade.

Figure 41's an edge view of the shears.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to improve pruningshears, which are composed of three jointed levers, by connecting the curved cutting-blade to the .shank of' the hooked lever, by means of a stud working in au oblique-curved slot, and also by constructing the haudles or Shanks of the instrumentwith obtuse angles, as will be hereinafter explained.

The following description will enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention.

In the accompanying drawing- A is a curved cutting-blade, which is pivoted at c to the angular lever C, and connected by a 'ulcrnmpin, Il, working in aslot, a, to the shank D of a hooked lever.

The hooked lever is pivoted, a a, to the angular lever C, and the shank of this lever is bent, so as to form two obtuse angles, e e', which, with the angular shank c' of the lever C, will allow tlie handlesl G G to become parallel to each other when the jaws of the instrument are closed, as-shown in fig. 2.

Ihe hooked jaw D, and its lever andhandle, afford a purchase on a branch during the act of cutting it, by the drawing and closing movements of the cuttingblade A.

'Ihe blade A has a long curved cutting-edge, i, and

diagonally to this cutting-edge a curved slot,y a, is

vmade through the blade A, through which passes the fulcrum-pin b that connects the blade to the hooked lever, and allows the blade to move ina direction with its length, at the same time that it is closed on the hook D, by the approximation of the handles G G'.

` In the schedule annexed to Letters Patent granted to Peter Keck, May 21, 1867, and numbered 64,882, pruning-shears are described which are composed oi' three levers, two of which are connected together by means of a fulcrum-pin working in a'straight slot', which is parallel to the cutting-edge of the cuttingblade.

The shank of the hooked jaw is also straight in Kecks shears. i y

In my shears the slot a is .curved and oblique or diagonal to the cutting-edge of the blade A; consequently, it will be seen that I have a compound movement ofthe blade, in closing it, consisting cfa motion in the arc of a circle about the pin b, a bodily endwise movement combined with the direct movement of the cntting-blade toward the hook D, produced by the divergence of the slot a from the cutting-edge of said blade.

The great advantage which I obtain over other shears results from making lthe slot a ohlique,-and shaping the shanks to which the handles G G are applied as above described, whereby comparatively little movement of the arms is lrequired to fully open and close the cutter.

I do not claim shearsconstructed as shown in the Letters Patent of Peter Keck; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-f i Constructing the cutting-blade A of the three-part shearsv herein described with the diagonal slot a through it, to receive the fulcrum-pin b, as set forth.

MANASSEH. GROVER. Witnesses W. H. REYNOLDS, M. Mo'rLEY. 

